Old Skool and the New

"Cheng dropped 2 Roald Dahl bombs on me. Straight old school and new school editions. Now that's playing hardball. I need a sleeping pill cause this is starting to get ludicrous." - excerpt from the 'Handsome Young' one.

Yes, so I was back to my book-sharing mood during the recent Christmas.

And it got me excited all over again, fantasizing about my own dream bookcase. I figure my books shall be the best Original-Fatmama heirloom I could ever hand down to my kids, and their kids, and their kids, and their kids...

That said, I think I do have a long way to go though.

While I am darned proud of my almost-complete Tintin collection, I am missing my Enid Blytons and my Nancy Drews. If I can't find them in the 30-year-old vault meticulously maintained by the Queen Mother, I have this nagging feeling I would so embark on an anal worldwide huntdown.

Somewhere amongst the kids' section, I am also going to pull out all the Calvin & Hobbes, the Dr. Seuss's, and the Shel Silversteins. I can't help but think I would make such a darned awesome mom or grandmom. Tsk tsk.

I don't really care much for the Harry Potters - maybe 'cos I already own most of them. But Roald Dahls would be the next must-haves after the Blytons (the Golliwogs, the Magic Faraway Trees, the Amelia Janes, the Famous Fives and all). I know I have most of them in my still-pathetic bookcase. :)

I will not dare proclaim any challenge toward Shakespeare, but I have always dreamt of conquering all the great classics. The day I actually complete Tolstroy's War and Peace, I would think I am damn awesome.

On the shelves of my dream bookcase, some philosophical titles and an autobiogaphy on Audrey Hepburn would ideally stand. There would probably be, as I can imagine now, a good mix of fiction and non-fiction. Books about dogs, animals, interesting human beings, travel, food, and especially the how-to-get-rich manuals.

The treasury would finally be completed with a few random titles that I have had the blessing to, and will hopefully continue to, stumble upon. Books that I didn't search for, but found their way to me instead. Books that told me a story which touched my own in an inexplicable yet immense way.


I love books.

I pray only that I will have amassed enough fortune in this lifetime of mine to indulge in them. And that I have the super power to actually read faster than I would like to buy.

And if I could just be allowed to be a little shameless here, I would be a very happy chick if all birthday or Christmas pressies came in the form of Borders giftcards. :)